September 27, 2021
These diaries covered the closing stages of the
2019/20 season of the nine team Armenian Premier League, in which
Ararat-Armenia won the title with a final day 2-0 over Noah, who in turn would
have been champions had they won the match. This came after a dramatic Cup
Final between these two sides in the preceding week in which Noah won a penalty
shoot-out after a 5-5 draw and after being 1-4 down at half-time. Alashkert
finished third.
The 2020/21 also finished with 9 teams after Gandzasar
pulled out due to financial difficulties arising from the Covid pandemic and
the Nagorno Karobakh conflict. Furthermore, Lori withdrew from the league in
protest of a forfeit being awarded against them after they were unable to
fulfil a fixture due to Covid, and all their remaining matches were declared as
0-3 defeats. We were at least able to see a Lori vs Van encounter !
In amongst all of this, Alashkert won their 4th
title despite scoring only 25 goals, finishing 5 points ahead of Noah and Urartu.
They were though beaten 1-3 in the Cup Final by Ararat Yerevan, and champions
Ararat-Armenia finished a disappointing 5th.
The season 2021/22 season has 10 sides, with BKMA, Sevan
and Noravank promoted from the second level. Ararat-Armenia have won all of
their seven matches to-date, but Alashkert are yet to win a game. Although they
have only played five matches, they have registered just two draws and three defeats,
and scored only two goals. They did win the Armenian Super Cup last week,
beating Ararat-Yerevan 1-0
They have had an extended run in European Competition,
beginning with beating Connah’s Quay Nomads 1-0 in extra-time in the Champions
League after a 2-2 draw in Wales. The match in Yerevan hit the headlines for
the one supporter who made the journey to watch the Nomads. Sheriff Tiraspol
were unsurprisingly too strong, Alashkert losing 1-4 on aggregate, although
that result looks quite respectable given Sheriff’s subsequent victories over
Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Dropping down to the Europa League, Alashkert caused a
minor surprise to eliminate Kazakh side Kairat Almaty thanks to a 3-2 win at
home in extra time after a 0-0 draw in Kazakhstan. This enabled the Armenians
to play Glasgow Rangers where after a 0-1 defeat in Scotland, Alashkert were
reduced to 10 men in the first half of the second leg but were still able to
cause Rangers some problems. A 0-0 draw meant an exit that to competition.
However, Alashkert were not knocked out of Europe but
instead dropped down to the group stages of the Europa Conference, the first
time ever a side from Armenia had reached the group stages of any European
competition. In their first match they were well beaten 1-4 by Maccabi Tel Aviv
in Israel but they still have matches against HJK Helsinki and LASK of Linz to
look forward to as well as the return agains Maccabi Tel Aviv. Portuguese
forward Jose Embalo has scored three goals in the European campaign so far,
Russian midfielder David Khurtsidze and Bosnian striker Alexsandar Glisic have
scored twice, whilst French midfielder Vincent Bezecourt has one to his name.
The Alashkert squad is much changed from the one in 2019.
Armenian defender Daghbashyan is now at Van, midfielder Hayraperyan is with
Kairat Moskva in the Russian Second Division, Estonian Nikita Baronov is with
Pyunik after a spell in Cyprus, Brazilian attacking midfielder Marmentini is playing
for Hapoel Hadera in Isreal, Macedonian Mitrevski is at Sabah in the Malaysian
Premier League, whilst midfielders Brazilian Galvao and Senegalese Camara have
left the club to destinations unknown.
Nambian midfielder Wangu Gome, Serbian keeper Ognjen
Cancarevic, Russian forward Nikita Tankov and Glisic are amongst the few that remain.
BKMA stands for the Central Army Sports Club although
in Soviet days they were known as CSKA Yerevan. The club was reformed in 2019
after folding in 1997, and they were promoted to the Premier League after finishing
in second place in the 2020/21 Armenian First League. Unfortunately, they have lost all seven matches played so far
but 19 year old forward Grenik Petryosian has scored three of their four goals,
and only one player in their all Armenian squad is over the age of 22.
The match was streamed live on the Football Federation
of Armenia YouTube channel. Bet365 had Alashkert 1/6 favourites to win, with
BKMA rank outsiders at 12/1 and the draw at 5/1. The temperature at 16.00
kick-off local time was 24 degrees, with the weather dry.
Alashkert made 7 changes from their starting line-up
for the Super Cup, with only keeper Yurchenko, Ivorian centre-back Kadio, midfielder
Khurtsidze and striker Embalo keeping their places. Perhaps more focus was on
Thursday’s upcoming home Europa Conference tie against HJK Helsinki, with the
Finns maybe being seen as the best chance to grab an historic group stage
victory ?
Alashkert played in their familiar yellow and brown
strip, with BKMA in all red. Both sides had the names of the players on the
back of their shirts in roman script rather than the Armenian alphabet.
The match started very slowly. BKMA appeared to be
playing with a back three and two wing-backs, and looked tidy in possession but
lightweight going forward. Alashkert had over 60% of the possession in the opening
half-hour but rarely threatened. Tankov had done well to get free down the
right wing but his cross was headed wide by the incoming Khurtsidze but apart
from that effort in the 13th minute the only other attempt on goal
was a long range effort from the diminutive Yedigaryan, which went harmlessly
wide.
However, the game burst into life in the 35th minute as Tankov beat Muradyan to a long ball and ran on to the by-line. His pull-back to near the penalty spot was met by Khurtsidze and although the midfielder looked like he was slipping whilst in the act of shooting, the ball went easily into the top corner for the opening goal.
The same pair combined three minutes
later as again Tankov crossed from the by-line but although the ball went slightly
behind Khurtsidze he was able to turn and shoot left footed, but keeper
Nersisyan made an excellent diving one-handed save to prevent a second goal.
At half-time Alashkert took off the ineffective Embalo
for Ivorian Fofana but more surprisingly took off Khurtsidze, who had looked
their most dangerous player. BKMA brought on 18 year old Artur Serobyan who
immediately looked lively, and with BKMA switching to a back-four they started
the second half strongly and forced three consecutive corners. However, the
closest they came to scoring in this spell was Grigoryan’s gentle chip to
Yurchenko after some good build-up play.
Alashkert created a couple of dangerous moments.
Brazilian James made ground down the left wing and crossed to the near post,
but Fofana’s header was straight at the keeper. Then in the 64th
minute a long ball out of defence led to a foot-race between Fofana and
Ishkhanyan and both players tumbled to the floor. The referee awarded a
free-kick to Alashkert right on the edge of the penalty area and showed a
yellow card to Ishkhanyan. There could have been a penalty or a red card, but
the free-kick came to nothing.
BKMA stunned the home side with 12 minutes left as Serobyan
jinked into the Alashkert penalty area and shot through two defenders and past
Yurchenko inside the near post for the equalizer. However, their joy was
short-lived as substitute Papikyan passed to Fofana to sweep home a left-footed
effort from the edge of the area past Nersisyan to spare Alashkert’s blushes.
With their noses back in front, Alashkert competently
wound down the clock, and Milinkovic even forced a decent save from Nersisyan
with a 25 yard left footed shot.
Alashkert held on to pick up their first win of the
season, but on this showing HJK Helsinki probably won’t be having any sleepless
nights due to the prospect of playing them. BKMA remain without a point, but
can take some positives from this performance.
FK Alashkert : Yurchenko – Yatchenko,
Kadio, Kryuchkov, Davoyan – Gome ( Papikyan ), Yedigaryan, Khurtsidze (
Bezancourt ), James ( Grigoryan ) – Tankov ( Milinkovic ), Embalo ( Fofana )
BKMA Yerevan : Nersisyan – Mkrtchyan, Ishkhanyan, Galstyan – Manukyan ( Serobyan ), Aghbalyan, Mirzoyan, Khamoyan, Muradyan ( Samsonyan ) – Grigoryan ( Alaverdyan ), Petrosyan
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